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Weather to get colder, but not severe

By MIKE GELLATLY

Freezing temperatures and rain pushing into the Midlands of South Carolina could have a chilling effect on Aiken tonight – but forecast say severe weather is unlikely.

With lows below freezing and a 40 percent chance of rain, Friday night and the early hours of Saturday could possibly see difficult driving conditions, with a threat of freezing rain. However, an updated forecast from the National Weather Service predicts very small amounts of rain, and with daytime temperatures in the 50s on both Saturday and Sunday, any problems will not stick around.

Temperatures dipped below freezing Thursday night and, with a pocket of moisture moving toward central South Carolina from the southwest, frozen precipitation was seen in the Midlands. It had been feared by early predictions that the CSRA may face the same.

In the Aiken area tonight, as in Columbia last night, periods of sleet or freezing rain are possible still, but they should be brief, with no accumulation on roads or trees, according to the state climate office.

However, if predictions are off, and the CSRA is hit with severe weather, information on road conditions will be available from the S.C. Department of Transportation, which has a website that may help plan a journey at www.scdot.org/winterweather.

The Winter Weather page is activated at times when snow and ice conditions affect South Carolina highways, SCDOT said. The reports are “updated by SCDOT personnel in each district around the clock several times a day as conditions warrant.” Simply click on the area of the state you are interested in, and a list of roads and conditions in that area will appear. Conditions are listed for freeways and state primary highways, which are first to be cleared during inclement winter weather, according to SCDOT.

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